


Say What You Need But Tell Me A Lie

by connorssock



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Everybody Lives, Gavin!whump, Hurt/Comfort, Injury, M/M, Matter of Life and Death, connor!whump, small spaces
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-31
Updated: 2018-10-31
Packaged: 2019-08-11 10:46:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,219
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16474085
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/connorssock/pseuds/connorssock
Summary: Gavin and Connor are out investigating an abandoned building together when it catches fire and collapses around them. They have to wait and hope that they're rescued before time and air runs out.





	Say What You Need But Tell Me A Lie

As far as investigations went, the one they were sent out on was fairly boring. An abandoned block of flats which was rumoured to be a red ice hub. It didn’t require anything specialist so Fowler was happy to mix up the teams. With Nines on weighed down with his own caseload and Hank having the day off to visit Cole in the cemetery on his death’s anniversary, it was a no brainer to partner Gavin with Connor.

The apartment block really was destitute; paint flaked off in large chunks as they walked up the stairs, casing each floor as they went. Not even pigeons roosted in the rooms with broken windows. It was abandoned and set for demolition as soon as the city had enough funds and ideas to redevelop the site.

Luck had never been strong with Gavin and in typical fashion he stepped over a bucket, eyes scanning the room when the floor gave way under him. His knee gave a sickening wet pop and bile rose in his throat and pain burned through the joint.

“Connor!” he yelled when he caught his breath and worked on trying to ease himself down to a sitting position without jostling his knee. It seemed like an impossible task, his foot lodged in the hole and each attempt to pull it brought a fresh wave of searing agony.

A pair of firm hands wrapped up under his arms and around his chest in a gentle vice. Gavin let himself sag into the arms, sure that they’d be able to take his weight – after all, Nines could so it stood to reason Connor wouldn’t be much different.

“Easy does it,” Connor helped lower him to the ground before looking at where his foot was twisted in the hole.

“I can’t pull it out,” Gavin tried again and bit back a cry.

Kneeling by his foot, Connor looked around the building.

“I guess nobody will mind,” he mused and before Gavin could ask what he was on about a hand slid into the hole and gripped the floorboards. They creaked under the pressure and splinters flew everywhere as they gave way under Connor’s grip. After two more handfuls of rotted through floorboards the hole was big enough for Gavin to easily scoot back and pull his foot free.

“Thanks,” he gasped, eyes closed against the pain.

Outside teenagers screamed and laughed, delighting in their illicit trespassing. Both Connor and Gavin ignored them, even as the screeching reached a hollering crescendo. Connor’s LED flickered yellow as he looked over Gavin.

“Emergency services are on their way.”

Gavin lay down and huffed out a bitter laugh. Typical. The one case where the threat level was negligible was the one where he goes and gets injured. Chris and Tina were never going to let him live that down.

“So, Tin Can,” he broke the silence, “what’s it like, being deviant?”

It was a conversation he’d had with Nines before, but somehow he suspected he’d get a different answer from Connor.

“It’s difficult to describe.” The reply was hesitant and Gavin cracked an eye open to look at his partner. Connor was sitting on the floor with a small frown creasing his forehead. Outside the screaming laughter continued.

“I would guess you’d describe it as an abyss that swallows all your screams and only ever spits back echoes of broken thoughts.”

Gavin made the effort to look at Connor properly then. Whenever Nines had talked about deviancy it was always the positives, like a blinkered horse suddenly being the choice to canter down whichever path it fancied rather than the only one it could see. Gavin had long suspected that there was a certain amount of sugar coating going on there as well as the fact that Connor had spent a significantly longer amount of time under CyberLife’s thumb compared to the few hours Nines had.

“If you were to travel to space, how would you know which star to aim for? When to turn left or right? Our choices are like those stars; you reach for them and hope you won’t get burnt when you get there.”

Gavin hummed in agreement, it was certainly something he’d never thought of. Before he could ask something else, Connor stiffened next to him, LED circling yellow with a few flicks of red as his eyes zeroed in on the window. The screams below had changed from raucous laughter to something a little more hysterical and there were sounds of feet running.

“We need to go,” Connor announced. Without warning he pulled Gavin into a sitting position as though he weighed nothing.

“Woah! Hands off the goods!” Gavin grumbled. “I can do it.”

“I will not be able to carry you without causing significantly more injury. However if it comes to it I will be forced to carry you. We must hurry.”

Gavin snorted and slung an arm around Connor’s neck while one was wound around his waist in support.

“Where’s the fire, Ken Doll?”

“It is on the second floor; the lit aerosol spray entered through the third from left windowpane and will likely explode in thirty seconds. How did you know there was a fire, Detective?” Connor’s voice was tense and factual, a fall back onto his pre-deviancy tones when he wanted to avoid giving away his true anxieties.

“It’s an expression Tin Can. But never mind. Let’s skedaddle.”

The going was slow, each step radiated pain through Gavin’s knee, fire burned through his veins. There was only so much of his weight Connor could take in their position. Lifting him was out of the question, a bridal carry too humiliating and too much pressure on Gavin’s knee while a fireman’s carry would have meant an arm trapping the injury against Connor’s chest. As Connor had said, carrying him would have meant more injury but in a worst case scenario it would have to be the case.

Heading down the stairs was sheer agony. Each step a small mountain and they had to pause on each step for Gavin to catch his breath. Sweat clung to his skin. Somewhere deeper in the building there was a rumble and Connor gently tried to urge them on. They paused on a landing, two more sets of thirteen stairs to go and then a corridor to the door. So close and yet it felt like an eternity away. Heat spiralled through the stairwell.

“The fire is spreading,” Connor observed in an emotionless tone.

“I know, I’m trying to hurry as much as I can,” Gavin snapped back. Pain, heat and frustration throbbed in his chest.

They descended slowly down another set of stairs and were in the corridor of the first floor. Behind and above them the sounds of an inferno raged. During their quick break Connor helped pull Gavin’s t-shirt over his nose as smoke filled the stairwell. It didn’t do much to stop the burning that clawed at his eyes and chest but at least it helped a little.

Somewhere above them there was a crashing sound and Connor lurched them towards the stairs. They were on the first step when a loud boom exploded around them and the building shook. A giant piece of steel beam slammed through the ceiling and into the stairs, missing them by barely anything. Heat burned against Gavin’s cheeks and he jumped back. It jarred his knee and his legs gave out finally.

“We need to find shelter,” Connor’s voice was loud in his ear and Gavin nodded. Their exit was blocked; they were still one floor too high. He let himself be all but dragged back up towards the corridor, smoke thick in his face. The building around them groaned and Gavin wasn’t sure if it was swaying or if he was too faint to feel solid ground beneath his feet.

The first door Connor tried was locked but the handle sizzled against his palm. The synthetic skin peeled back and his chassis turned yellow from the heat underneath it. Together, they stumbled further into the building. It was the third door they tried that finally opened and revealed a utility room. There were washing machines and tumble-dryers along the back wall. A moment of relief passed through Gavin, it was a safe haven for the time being. Around them the building let out another deafening groan. A hand on the middle of Gavin’s back pushed him firmly and he stumbled with a cry, knee twisting painfully under him as he fell. The building shook and dirt rained down on him before everything went black.

Coming to wasn’t an experience Gavin would have cared to repeat. He groaned and pushed himself off his front, rubble tumbled from his back. Smoke curled in the pocket of space they’d been trapped in, everything lit in a soft red glow.

“Connor?” he croaked and looked around. Girders, beams and rebar littered the space, washing machines were crushed, cogs strewn haphazardly everywhere. There was no response to his call.

“Connor?” Gavin tried again, louder this time. He looked at where he thought the door would be.

Clumps of drywall, bricks and other detritus formed a solid, impassable wall. He could just about hear the fire raging on the other side and heat pooled in the little pocket of air Gavin had found himself in. His eyes adjusted to the low red light and he looked for the source.

He almost wished he hadn’t. Connor’s LED was red, the only giveaway that the android was still functioning on some level. His leg was trapped under the debris, up to his hip and part of his stomach too. A pool of thirium, almost black in the light pooled around his midriff.

“Shit,” Gavin swore and dragged himself closer. Once within touching distance he was hesitant to reach out, worried the so much as nudging Connor would disrupt his circuits.

“Connor?” he tried again and watched as his voice made Connor’s eyes flicker under their lids. “Hey, Tin Can, no time for a beauty sleep.”

It was enough to finally rouse Connor, his eyes opened and lips parted in a small gasp.

“How bad is it?” Gavin asked. He didn’t see the point in beating around the bush, dealing with facts was more straightforward and honest.

“Suboptimal,” Connor looked over at Gavin, eyes wide. “But help is on the way.”

“You can send messages?”

Connor shook his head minutely, lips pressed into a thin frown.

“Before a piece of flooring hit me in the head emergency services were eight minutes out.”

It was good enough, had to be. Gavin looked around and coughed into the smoke that was slowly clogging the air. Next to him Connor sounded like an industrial fan with each inhale of breath and Gavin jumped at the sudden noise.

“I’m sorry,” Connor apologised as he looked to the side as though he were lying, “my cooling fans appear to be malfunctioning.”

“You’re alright, just keep it up until we’re pulled from this hell hole.”

The sound of the fire, the burning building shifting around them and Connor’s harsh breathing filled the space.

“Gavin,” Connor’s voice was weaker. Gavin had to bend lower to hear him. “Could you talk to me?”

It was such a dumb request that Gavin almost laughed. His kneejerk reaction was to mock the almost childish plea until his brain caught up with instinct.

“Sure, what do you want to know?” he asked instead.

“Anything. Much like with humans, hearing is the last thing to go for androids too. So even if my LED goes out, would you please keep talking?”

It occurred to Gavin then that while he dealt better with facts, Connor might not. Sure, he was a highly advanced prototype android, only surpassed by Nines in capability but his whole life was dealing in statistical outcomes. Perhaps he needed someone to brazenly lie, tell him things were going to be okay despite the most likely outcomes. Instead of voicing any of that, Gavin scoffed.

“And how would you know that?”

“Before my deviancy, I was sacrificed in the line of duty numerous times. Death isn’t a novelty to me,” Connor wheezed between harsh breaths.

Gavin shifted uncomfortably at the thought. He wondered what it would be like to die over and over again, only to come back in a new body but with the memories of dying still there.

“Well, you’re not dying on my watch so forget about all that stupidity. Who else would make my coffee if you popped your clogs? The office needs an overachieving kettle.”

Connor’s laugh sounded like a jammed photocopier.

“I’m sure Nines could step up to the role,” he rasped.

Gavin shifted again, his trousers were getting soaked through. A quick glance revealed that the puddle of thirium had spread wider and he was now sitting firmly on the edge of it. He was glad Connor couldn’t see it, but then again he probably had a red warning floating in his vision about thirium loss anyway. If he could even find that warning amongst however many others there were.

“That bastard would probably only ever make weak decaf stuff,” Gavin tried to get back on track. He wracked his mind for stupid, inane things to keep Connor’s attention. He was halfway through a story about how him and Hank had gotten into an accidental paperclip collection race when Connor’s breath stuttered.

“I’m sorry,” he gasped and his hands flexed involuntarily against his jacket.

“What for?” Gavin asked.

“I can’t. It’s too much. Please.” A tear slipped down Connor’s face. The fans in his chest stuttered to a slow, quiet halt.

“It’s okay,” Gavin felt his throat tighten, he didn’t know what Connor was begging for but to his ears it certainly sounded like he was seeking permission to give up. “You know, I never did meet Sumo, that’s Hank’s dog, right?”

It was a long shot but Gavin was growing desperate. Selfishly he didn’t want to be stuck in the guts of a building, slowly suffocating on smoke. He wanted to believe that was why his eyes were burning, not because tears of helpless frustration threatened to spill down his cheeks.

“I never did tell you about Nines, did I?” Gavin’s voice trembled. It was an open secret in the office, one that by all means should have meant an end to their working partnership, but much like with Hank and Connor, Fowler turned a blind eye. “I mean, I know everyone knows but, I didn’t tell you how we figured our shit out. It was less saccharine sweet than you and Hank, that’s for sure.”

“Sumo,” Connor murmured, voice barely more than a whisper of static. His eyes, unseeing searched the ceiling. It made Gavin’s throat constrict, Connor was lost in some hazed half memory playing in his mind, almost oblivious to his surroundings. He hoped at least Connor was happy.

If Gavin had thought wishful thinking was bad enough, he was cursing how his brain made him think he could hear to low howling bark of a dog.

“Sumo!” Connor’s voice was scratching but firmer as a hand reached blindly towards the ceiling.

Another low bellow resonated through the air, just in time for Connor’s LED to flicked dark before it stuttered back to red. Smoke burned Gavin’s throat.

“Hey, down here!” he yelled, hoping against all hope that there was someone looking for them and it wasn’t just a wishful delusion that he and Connor jointly indulged in.

The was a scrape the sound of a slab of flooring being lifted. Bright light and copious smoke flooded into their cramped space. Figured jumped down as Gavin blinked through wet eyes. A mask was jammed to his face and he took a breath of blissfully clean air.

Nines’ face swam into his vision and behind him, on the lip of the opening was Hank with a giant dog.

“I’m okay. Get Connor,” Gavin urged his partner. A hand cupped his cheek and worry flickered over Nines’ face before they turned to get a better look at Connor. The damage was so much worse than Gavin had thought it to be. The thirium that pooled on the ground was blue at the edges but black sooty tendrils worked their way out and only a black sludge dripped from Connor’s broken side in fat, lazy drops.

“What the?” Gavin croaked in horror.

“His thirium filter’s broken,” Nines was crouched next to Connor, a hand on his shoulder. “Usually androids can help filter air of pollutants safely. But his filter’s crushed so anything he filtered out of the air bled into his systems.”

The sound of the fans, the lie about cooling fans malfunctioning, Gavin wanted to scream in rage. Instead he settled on letting hands pull him down onto a stretcher and lift him from the cavern as Nines was calling for a thirium transfer. He didn’t want to look at Hank, see his face devoid of all emotion as people battled another loved one. An android hadn’t been enough to first time and Gavin desperately hoped they’d do better this time round.

 

                Recovery had usually meant being utterly bored out of his mind and playing target practice with a straw and spit-bombs. This time though, as soon as his leg was strapped into a support and he was cleared for what was considered miraculously mild smoke inhalation, there were two people waiting for him.

The first was Nines, ready to take him home and lovingly smother him in well intentioned care. It was almost expected by then. What was much more surprising was Hank standing by Nines’ elbow with a soft smile.

“Glad you’re up and about Reed,” he greeted.

“Anderson,” Gavin replied, uncertain.

“If you’re up for it, someone’s been rather incessantly asking after you. Would you feel up to a quick visit to the cyber unit?”

Nines smiled as he walked on side of Gavin while Hank ambled on the other. Rather selfishly, Gavin leaned against Nines, letting his weight be carried a little even as he was more concerned with seeking out the visceral comfort of his partner’s solid presence next to him.

“So the Tin Can pulled through?” he asked crassly and Nines squeezed his waist in reprimand.

“Pulled through and is making a fuss about having to stay in overnight,” Hank agreed amicably.

A quick glance over at him revealed a lighter relief than when he’d been standing on the edge of the rubble. It also reminded Gavin of a question he’d been dying to ask.

“So, it wasn’t some smoke filled hallucination that I saw you with a hairy behemoth in rubber shoes when being pulled out, was it?”

Hank looked at him with a grin.

“Nah, that was Sumo. Trained him as a search and rescue dog when I was off for compassionate leave. He does so hate those protective shoes though. Chewed the blue ones up, seems to tolerate the red ones.”

“Dogs don’t see colour like we do Lieutenant,” Nines piped up and Hank laughed.

“I know. Dog’s got about as much fashion sense as Connor.”

They approached the door to the cyber unit and Hank walked through first. Gavin followed with Nines by his side. Somehow, everything felt alright.

**Author's Note:**

> Over on tumblr as @connorssock. Come say hi.


End file.
